roadbike fail

Since the rain from yesterday stopped, I decided to hit the roads BIKING.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the road I used to avoid at all costs (chemin de l'anse a l'orme) had the shoulder PAVED!!!!

it was a true miracle. you can see from the non-paved areas why I used to hate biking this route.  It makes for the best loop, so today I gave it a go and couldn't have been happier.

 I checked out some sweet old school Senneville wagon things..........

 This house and it's truck look wobbly...

 SPRING has sprung!

 I was having a nice time biking and checking out the views when I got a flat.

Being the super organized person that I am, I had no tube and no pump.  But i had the worlds best tool ever: a cellphone.

My mom had to come pick me up in the middle of NOWHERE on her birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! And to my brother too!! (they have the same birthday!)

FAIL.

And then i stole some pictures from Adrians facebook from our epic sugar shack night!

 THIS IS HOW WE APRES SKI!!! ***snowflake censorship of adult beverages!! ha

That's all for now!

Birches and Sugar Shacking!

A couple weeks ago I posted the "Holstee Manifesto" which I thought was pretty cool and I guess I got inspired today as I was admiring my favourite trees... (Birches OBVIOUSLY! haha. i'm starting to sound a little obsessed...)
 But either way, I was checking out a birch tree because I am designing my birch bark lamp, and the bark patterns made me in awe of nature.  Nature is rad.

Here's what my fascination with birch bark paired with my inspiration from the Holstee Manifesto created:

In other news, I got on my road bike yesterday after an INTENSE "tuning" session... (I don't have the slightest idea about how to really tune it, but I cleaned and oiled it so that seems legit.)

And it felt amazing to be outside and be active after a little while being cooped up with hip drama.

And then I reversed all the benefits I gained from roadbiking by going to the sugar shack and eating Syrup covered EVERYTHING for dinner!!  Good times!

Here's a funky picture I took with Jeff and Ju pre-sugar shack apres-ing at Tremblant!!

I love spring time in Quebec!!

chill and enjoy the view.

MELLOW.

The last couple of days since surgery have been super mellow.

I watched my cousin Giacomo teach my mom a bit about baseball when we visited my aunt and uncle (melanie and frank!! to be less formal!! ha) in Toronto!  Spring really began as we drove home from surgery and left the crazy storms, lightning and thunder behind us.  Could be the metaphor for my trip!

Now all I have to do is heal.  I walked out to take this picture just because I could! 

what are you looking at????

I love it here, I love spring, and I love that I am on my road to recovery after being in limbo for a long time.

BIRCHES ARE MY FAVOURITE. I seriously love these trees. If you ask me what my favourite tree is, it's a birch. My summer project is to make a sweet birch lamp.

But summer projects are for the summer. until then, I'll be chillin by the fire, checking out the deer, walking because I can, and admiring my dad's one of a kind fire stools!

bonjour spring and a whole new season in many more ways than just climatically. if that makes sense.

Everything's up from here!

Surgery Summary:

My hip arthroscopic surgery was a huge success!! Thanks to Dr. Willits and his team for fixing me up!

What they found were three pieces of cartilage wedged between my femur head and hip socket.  Dr. Willits thinks that I dislocated my hip, and as the joint was going back in, three pieces of cartilage got chipped off and were wedged between the joint.

 The cartilage is probably what was causing most of my discomfort, clicking, and popping of the joint. It was apparent that my labrum had been torn, but Dr. Willits tested it out and it seemed to have healed itself!  Yay rehab!

The coolest part of the surgery was that Dr. Willits saved me the biggest piece of cartilage!!

I think I will donate it to Kent's office to mount beside some of the trophies and posters!! I named it George.

 And I spun!  Hip surgery so far for ME has been a breeze compared with my ACL reconstruction last year!

 I dug out my sweeeeeeeeet crutches!!  Custom made beauties!

 bling and blue!

Anyway I'm really happy with the way everything went and I'm excited to get started with rehab and be back as soon as possible!!!  Everything's up from here!

stretching yoga style

My friend Lara asked me the other day what kind of yoga I practice and it got me to thinking....

I don't really "do" yoga unless I am hitting up a hot yoga class with Brooke, but I stretch a LOT and I love stretching and I think most of the stretches I do are similar to doing a Sun Salutation...

So this weekend in Tremblant I saluted the SUN from the rock above the lake. bliss.

 I love "yoga-style-stretching" because I really makes you pause and embrace the stretch.  No rushing and no sudden movements.  It all flows together as you slowly feel your muscles loosen.

 AND since I will be on crutches for the next little while I decided to go outside and take some pics on this sunny day in Tremblant.

PLANK!!! I am a wanna-be pro.

 Running from the camera (as the timer beeped down with only 10 seconds to spare) to the rock and then into a stretch was not ideal!! I need a friend! haha  

 Lot's of emphasis on "cobra" since it's one of those stretches that releases a lot of my hip tension.

 I decided to lake was WAY too bright of a background to work with, so I climbed onto this rock in the woods for a few more poses!

 I love this.  back, neck, hamstrings, shoulders, glutes....i feel it everywhere as a gradual pull on these muscles that get tired out from me sitting here blogging! ha.

 A woodpecker scared me!!! And the timer just kept taking pics.... 

Anyway, sorry to any of you pro yogi's that know my technique is far from pro, but stretching makes me feel good and the idea of yoga inspires me to try to make it all flow. I need to go see Yasmin and become legit!!! 

Random is the new cool!

I've been home from Calgary for two weeks but have yet to blog about it!!

I have been working on making my blog more user-friendly and did some intense coding and internet tutorials to make a little menubar!! I am truly proud of it!!! It may be my brothers' computer programming amazing skillz that have somehow transferred over to me in a small menubar-making way!!

So there you have it, Pictures, Results, Twitter, Videos, and ugliest-picture-of-me-ever BIO!  I made my "youtube channel" more interesting with a few vids from skiing and life, and I made my Public Picasa album more interesting with lots of Olympic pics and random other sweet shots.

Anyway..... enough about coding and whatnot... 

I have some random pics kicking around my computer that aren't beautiful nature pics (since I have been immersed in the city for a while) but they are sweet nonetheless.

Calgary recap:

Giggles in physio!

 Glitterfying the girls at Fast and Female!!

 Tuesday night BROKENTOYZ!!!

 ROCKING OUT to 80's rock and pretending I know all the words!!!

 Shopping the Kelly Mcbroom way.  A.k.a always keeping the leg elevated no matter what/where/when! COMMITMENT!!

 drinking DELICIOUS peppermint-licorice tea!

 I arrived home in Montreal, greeted by my moms pretty tulips.

 Hung out with JU! we know how to have funnnnnnnn!  Last year during rehab year #1 we became a lot closer thanks to Jeff and I tearing our knees at the same time!! I'm so glad she's here for rehab #2! 

More giggles!!!

 WOW!!! That's a 12 year difference between the pics....

13 years old and 25 years old!!

Andree-Ann and I: ski friends are friends forever!

 And I got inspired for more "then and now's"........

This must be a 20 year difference!! haha!!

I miss that sweet white and pink helmet!!!  I finally learned how to get on my outside ski!! YEAH!

1991-2011

 And one more random pic.....

I finally went to fondue at a Swiss themed restaurant in Colorado.

I've been craving fondue all year and despite having travelled through Switzerland and France, never managed to get some! So of course in a place very far from swiss-land in a restaurant that had a painting of a mountain that I've skied beside, I finally got some yummy swiss cheese fondue! mmm!

So that's another random blog, randomness seems to be my theme lately, BUT I am newly inspired for one last sweet blog before Surgery on MONDAY!

STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!!

i like this. 

Surgery's in 2 weeks!! Gotta bling up my crutches once again so that I will at least look slightly cool!

cool things, unrelated to ANYTHING ever!

I have finally left Calgary (for now) and just wanted to send out a huge thanks to KENT, Chris, Matt Jenny, Jay and the whole rehab crew!  it's been good times.  Also thank you Broken Toys, you make Tuesday nights awesome.  I will look forward to Tuesday's this summer !! 

Summer is approaching, I heard the Canadian Geese constantly honking their way around Calgary, and I am starting to figure out a plan for me and my hip!  Unfortunately another summer starting off with rehab, but I've been down this road and know that coming back stronger and FASTER is completely feasible! 

My goal setting has begun, and I am getting motivated to figure everything out and come back stronger physically and mentally.

Until then, here are a bunch of RANDOM things I have been enjoying and dilly-dallying my time around with....

My new obsession with licorice Tea and doodling. And learning to spell Licorice??? oops.

 CHROMEA!!!

Karen and Erik's green/blue eyed kittycat.

 I agree. and I'll have a cupcake to prove it.

 yes, please?

 Newest snack obsession that could land me on MAN VS FOOD (or woman vs food)....

BAKED BRIE WITH brown sugar. mmmm soooo delicious, sooooo unhealthy, and sooooo irresistible!! 

 Fierce.

 My new boom box! For real!! This thing BUMPS!  Especially on granite countertops! partayyyy.

 :) happy and flowery.

This blog is completely random, but so is my life.

Just wanted to share some sweet moments over the last few days in Calgary.

I'm now in London for a day and then back to Montreal!! I am lugging around WAYY too much luggage that has yet to be unpacked since World Champs; so that should be interesting.

aurevoir!

Fast and Female!

It was an EARLY morning this morning, especially with "spring forward," but getting up early was for a good cause!! I attended a "fast and female" event as an Ambassador!

"Fast and Female" is was founded by Olympic Cross-Country skiing medalist Chandra Crawford as an effort to empower girls from ages 9-19 through different sporting events which inspire confidence and leadership!  Today's event took place at the Nordic Centre in Canmore and drew about 100 girls all ready to participate in tons of cross-country skiing activities, yoga and dancing!

The sunrise was my early morning inspiration.

Pink mountain tops.

PINK THEME!!!

The girls all arrived and proceeded to organize into groups and make group posters and group names!!

These were the "racing tu-tu's"!!

The next step was to GLITTERFY!

Thank's to Jodie's LIT products, we were all beauties!

M&H is getting everyone inspired while the girls help each other Glitterfy themselves.

After colouring and glittering, it was time to head outside and get going with the different activities. 

group photo!

My station!! THE SLALOM STAION... not the most popular! haha!

Kelly's station won more popularity... JUMPING!!!!

It was fun to get out there and see tons of young girls enjoying their sport so much!

Check out FAST AND FEMALE!!